Hi, all. Just a thought to help start your weekend.

Do you ever need a translator? Sometimes, as I listen to the young folks around me or when I hear some of the more popular music of today, I wish I had a translator to help me understand what’s being said. My Southern self not only speaks slower than some, but it also hears at a slower rate.

Don’t put me in front of a kid who is rattling off something very fast. I’ll miss half of what he’s saying. I can’t hear at that rate of speed! I need a translator.

On a trip to Paris a few short years ago, I took many photos of local architecture and the many, many water fountains and fixtures. My photo here is of one of those.

It looks simply like the end of a building or some such structure. However, look closer. It is a water feature.

Near the top, chiseled into the stone, are these words, “FONTAINE SAINT MICHEL SOUS LE REGNE DE NAPOLEON III EMPEREUR DES FRANCAIS CE MONUMENT A ETE ELEVE PAR LA VILLE DE PARIS AN MDCCCLX.”

Now, unless you can read French, you likely have no idea what you’ve just read. You need a translator.

What is written there above that fountain is, “Saint Michel Fountain under the reign of Napoleon III Emperor of the French this monument was erected by the city of Paris in MDCCCLX.”

And, unless you’re particularly proficient with Roman numerals, you also need a translator of such to help with that last portion “MDCCCLX,” which would be our year 1860. The letter M is 1000, D equals 500, each C is another 100, and then add L (50) and X (10), and you get 1860.

Life needs translation for us some days.

We are privileged to have different translations of the Bible, which can aid greatly in sharing God’s Word. Translating helps me understand, and I need all the help I can get. Don’t you?

Don’t be afraid to ask the Lord to help you understand what you read in the Scriptures. Ask Him to “translate” His Word upon your heart, to help you grasp the meaning of what you read, to give you a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit in order to apply that Word upon your life.

Without a translator, I would have been forever lost in France. Without the Lord’s translator — the Holy Spirit — to help me understand His Word and apply it and accept Him into my heart, I would be forever lost.

Let the Lord speak to you and help you understand the otherwise non-understandable in this world.

Just a thought. ’Til later.

Rev. Brad Campbell can be reached at mastah.pastah@yahoo.com.